Holleran shellshocked as Brakes again exit early

Leamington manager Paul Holleran said he hit rock-bottom at Stamford on Tuesday night as his side contrived to throw away an FA Cup trip to Midland League minnows Coleshill Town.

With the replay locked at 1-1, Brakes looked set to secure their place in the second round qualifying when they were awarded an 87th-minute penalty.

Lewis Carr received his marching orders for the challenge but Richard Taundry was unable to exact further punishment when his spot-kick was saved by Richard Knight.

Ten-man Stamford then went on to claim a dramatic injury-time winner through Greg Smith.

“In 15 years of doing this I can’t believe we can dominate a game like that and still lose against a very ordinary side,” said Holleran.

“The last five or six minutes must rank as my lowest at Leamington.

“We got in a situation with the penalty to wrap it up in front of our fans and then we throw it away.

“Nights like that are sent to test you and you have to go back to Stourbridge away three or four years ago to reproduce how I felt.

“To say I was shellshocked is an understatement.”

After producing two point-blank stops to prevent Brakes progressing in the initial tie, veteran keeper Knight was once again a key figure, with the penalty save one of a number of crucial interventions.

However, Holleran said Knight’s man-of-the-match performance should not mask his own side’s deficiencies in front of goal.

“There’s disbelief that we didn’t put the ball in the net.

“A couple of the saves were excellent but we haven’t been ruthless enough.”